Lanskys are great. They are a bit limited in the angles available to you. You may have to reprofile your knives to fit the sharpener's angle guides.
I'm looking at moving to an Edge Pro Apex because of this.

I just took the same journey. I've always been able to sharpen knives very well, but wanted a sharpening system anyway. Here's what worked for me.

SCARY sharp…

I have been on a mission, to be able to sharpen my knives into the scary sharpness zone. I've spent hundreds of dollars on my quest, and I have arrived. Here's what worked…

The KME Knife Sharpenerhttp://www.kmesharp.com/kmeknshsy.html
This is an extra high quality piece of machinery, and exceeded my expectations. It's not built like a tank where you can really bear down on knives, but it doesn't need to be. After sharpening every knife in my house and my friends' and family's knives, I have learned that pushing too hard ruins the edge, and the only way to arrive at scary sharpness is with a light and deliberate stroke. It's about twice as strong as it needs to be for that purpose. It doesn't matter whether you get the one with the rock or diamond stones, because you'll end up buying them both. I got the stones, which is best for fine tuning. But the diamonds remove metal much more quickly, which saves A LOT of arm work. Here's the diamond sharpeners I bought. The extra course one is for abused knives only…http://www.kmesharp.com/setdmtdi4x1d.htmlhttp://www.kmesharp.com/dmtdi4x1dist3.html

KME customer support is EXCELLENT. I called them before I bought it and told them that I didn't see how the flat stones could sharpen the inside curve on my beloved folding Kukri…http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct...tnumber=151274
Ron of KME told me "No problem, we'll round off the edges of the stones for you". I got a call from him the next day. He said that they'd forgot to round off the edges, so they were sending me another set of stones with the edges rounded off, absolutely free. They worked on the curved edges of my Kukri perfectly.

The next must-have item is a leather razor strop, made just for knives…http://www.knivesshipfree.com/produc...oducts_id=6348
It comes with course and fine abrasives. Don't apply them, until you treat the leather for a week or two with this…http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DYHMK8
This strop dressing conditions the leather, and adds some "grab" to the leather. When you're sliding the knife across it and feel the leather grab the knife and slow it down, you're there. After a week or two of daily conditioning, add the black abrasive to one side. Heat the strop with a candle first, and then heat the abrasive crayon. Then apply the abrasive and spread it like butter. The green abrasive works OK, but not nearly as good as the Fromm strop dressing. Leave the other side as is an use it for your fine tuning. Do not strop at a high angle, or it will rub off the edge.

Buck is my favorite brand of knives, and I just bought one that is the perfect every day carry knife. It is extremely well designed. And it's a Buck! I LOVE this knife, and it's only 32 "bucks". Needless to say, it's already scary sharp…http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001910KGS

__________________"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately".
Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence

The Lansky gets less than stellar reviews due to people not wanting to modify them to work. When you place a blade that is more than .00000001" in thickness, it has the tendency to fall out of that tiny little groove. Wrap the spine in a piece of cardboard and move it further back into the clamp. Lay it down on a flat surface. You'll probably notice that the knife sits a bit crooked in relation to the wings of the clamp that have the angle control holes. It's pretty simple. BEND THE WINGS with a pair of pliers next to the clamp area so that they are parallel to each other (sit flat on a table), but are 90 degrees to the blade. If you cannot get the angle you want (one is too steep, one is too shallow), bend the wings (right next to the clamp area) and get the angle you want. I've done this for several years and it works great. Use some gun oil on the rods to keep them nice and slick inside the angle control holes. This will help keep the clamp from loosening.

I've used a Lansky with diamond stones and now I have an edge pro apex. The EP will sharpen S90v easily to hair popping sharp. It costs a lot, but if you're into knives it's a good investment. It gives you that mirror finish quickly. The main drawback would be sharpening really short small blades like on a slipjoint. For that a flat diamond stone and finer stones would be easier. The diamond stones will wear out eventually but the EP stones can be made flat again. They dish out from a lot of sharpening.

Spyderco - The only reason I didn't buy one was because it doesn't control the angle you use. You still have to do that with your wrist.

Lansky - Having to bend (or even being able to bend) the wings of a Lanksy is one of the reasons I didn't buy it. If it's possible to bend the wings or the guide rods, then they're not strong enough for me. Also, the holes in the Lansky that the guide rods fit through are so big that they allow a lot of flopping around. For the price, the Lansky is a great deal. I just wanted more.

__________________"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately".
Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence

Just don't be a dumbarse and get a Samurai Shark (Billy May's) like I did. Biggest piece of crap I ever spent money on. They also sent me a *free* set of badarse kitchen shears. Those things wouldn't cut through a kleenex.

Have waterstones. Inexpensive King brand in different grits. Like them but their messy and sometimes a pain to keep flat.

Now I'm using DMT Dia-Sharp. Coarse/Fine/Extra Fine/Extra Extra fine (best deal I've found: http://www.cutleryshoppe.com/.) Also using 6 micron and 3 micron DMT diamond paste on hardwood blocks. Finally, I use a leather hone with .5 micron chromium oxide rubbed on it. Sharpening knives is relaxing and gratifying. You put on music you like and focus on your task. Controlling your angle will come with practice and you can feel the steel against the tool.

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